Lat night we went to the cinema and watched 'The Rite' an American supernatural horror film based on the making of a modern exorcist. It was directed by Mikael Håfström and written by Matt Baglio and Michael Petroni. It stars Anthony Hopkins as Father Lucas and Colin O'Donoghue as Michael Kovak.


Brief background of film...
The film is based on the book The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Rome-based Matt Baglio, which was published in 2009. To research the book, Baglio participated in a seminar on exorcism where he met Father Gary Thomas, a parish priest from California, who was tasked by the local bishop in San Jose, California to become an exorcist for the diocese. Initially skeptical and reluctant, Father Gary becomes an "apprentice" to a Rome-based exorcist and his skepticism is soon replaced by the cold reality of evil and the ways it sometimes takes the form of demonic possession.


My opinion...
I liked the film, although it was quite disturbing. The whole idea of the unknown really does scare me. It was also very jumpy in places particularly when the possessed priest whacks the little girl around the face and also when the devil hand starts strangling Kovak. At this point me and Valentina literally lept out of our chairs. Makes me laugh so much every time I think about out it!


The echoed, whispered sounds used definitely added to the jumpiness of the film. The scariest bits however were when it was silent as you just know that something scary is about to happen.


The first thing I noticed about the film was the camera work. The compositions were quite interesting. The camera’s perspective peaks from around corners and from behind fences which creates a mysterious, edgy feel to it adding to the genre of horror. I also noticed how detailed and intricate the make-up designs were especially towards the end of the film used on Hopkins. The dark blue veins and intense wrinkles really gave him that possessed, demonic look.

In the film after Father Lucas shows Michael his first case of possession, he remarks to the boy, “What did you expect? Spinning heads and pea-soup?” It seemed like a reminder that it wasn't like every other exorcism movie. However when the possessions started we saw nearly every single cliche of the genre. The possessed girl uses her sexuality to try and shame the priests. She plays on their secrets and insecurities (a very good actress might I add), they use electronically lowered voices, muttering blasphemies, blank contact lenses and blotting out eyes, sinister prophecies coming true, the vomiting up of odd objects etc. It all sounds quite familiar but I guess exorcism movies wouldn't be the same without it all, although I did think that red eyed horse was quite naff. 

                                

On Thursday our media class went on a trip to the BFI in order to learn some new skills and take away some new, exciting ideas.

In the first session we looked at a variety of different film openings including 'Catch Me if You Can' directed by Steven Spielberg. We analysed it in detail and we came to realise the importance of the actual credits (the text). Throughout this opening we were shown large number of different names including the actors Leonardo Dicaprio, Tom Hanks etc. However we know that this title sequence is of a very high standard, something not quite within our reach, as it uses mostly graphics and we do not have the appropriate software to do so. It is very sophisticated and cleverly made. It almost told us the story and introduced the characters to us despite it merely being the opening. It is a very inspirational film to learn from.

We also watched the opening of Dawn Of The Dead which was very gruesome and jumpy fitting with the genre really well. Johnny Cash's song worked really effectively contrasting against all of the other, quite disturbing sounds effects, again adding to the genre of horror. This was another rather inspirational film opening.

Another film opening we were shown was Napoleon Dynamite's opening which showed us that something simple like using food can be just as effective as using dialogue and actors just as long as it fits with the genre. I especially like it's quirky style, obviously directed at a younger perhaps teenage audience.

In the next session we listened to some professionals from the industry, such as Daniel Kleinman creator of the Bond title sequences. It was really interesting to hear how he found inspiration for some very creative ideas. Kleinman said he really liked the idea of the patterns usually found on the back of cards, and so he decided to use this idea of unusual patterns throughout the opening sequence of the James Bond movie Casino Royale. I thought his use of symbols from the cards was done really cleverly and i really enjoyed watching it. He told us that he never creates anything without reading the script through first in order to gain a full understanding of the film. He not only incorporated the idea of the casino but he also used some of the main themes, typical of a James Bond movie, such as the guns, the fights, the women etc. This helped remind us the importance of knowing what the rest of the film would be about if we were to make that too.

Simon Frame was also an inspiration to us. He gave us an insight into the tricks that can be used when editing, for example the importance of sound, and how a film is built up using lots of different layers that have been recorded separately. This was useful to us as it is something we will be able to do in our film opening. He told us that filming the back of someone's head in a shot whilst their talking is a great idea because it allows the editor to add in a voice over to change the dialogue if need be.

In the afternoon session we were given top tips for making our film openings on no budget. We were shown examples of good and bad student work to illustrate some of the things to aim for and some of the pitfalls to avoid.

Here is a particularly successful piece..



Here are some picture I took on our our journey to and from the BFI..

On our way home..

Heather thought I was filming so she waved..

Mrs Routledge took us here by accident..

Throughout our journey a few of us filmed on the flip camera including me and Lana..

Everyone was very tired..

Trying to warm my face whilst waiting for the train in the snow..

Overall the trip to the BFI was not only a good day out but it was also really helpful, providing us all with some real inspiration!

Friday's Lesson

In this lesson we went to the CLC centre where we learnt how to use the imovie software. Most of what we were shown we already knew like selecting clips and adding in credits. However there where some new tools which we didn't know about that we might like to use in our film opening.

We continued editing our film here is what we have done so far, however it is no where near finished yet.



There is still lots of work to be done. Eventually almost all of the clips will be muted with recorded sounds placed over the top, (like with the alarm clock which we've already done) this will cut out any background noise like the wind. Already our film is over 2 minutes long and this is not including the other filming we have done. We will have to trim a lot of the clips down, like for example the wardrobe shot, which is at the moment quite long. I really like how the music ended at the moment where I walk out of the house, the door closing behind me. This was not planned however we will probably keep this idea as it worked really nicely. We will also have to perhaps re film the very first shot of the alarm clock because the camera seems to be shaky. This is most likely down to the fact that we could not connect the camera to the tripod, due to leaving the attachment clip on the bus. This shouldn't be very difficult though, so we aren't at all worried.